“President Anderson.”
President John Nephi Anderson stirred awake in his bed next to his wife. He opened his eyes and checked to see if his wife, Mary, was also awakened. She was not. At the foot of their bed he saw the virtual image of the colony’s system’s intelligence, the Governor.
“Yes, what is it?”
“There’s been an unexpected event. It is very serious. You will need to be informed.”
President Anderson threw off his covers and jumped out of bed. As he headed for the closet and his clothes, he replied to the Governor, “Call the Presidency and the High Council and meet us all in the Council Room in twenty minutes.”
“Done.”
The Governor then disappeared.
President Anderson splashed water on his face, combed his hair, then dressed quickly in his usual dark blue business suit. Mary stirred a little and sleepily asked if something was wrong.
“I don’t know,” he replied softly, “I’ll find out.”
He turned toward the wall which sensed his intentions and opened a portal to the Council Room. He stepped from his home into the well the well lit room with a very large, long oak table. The room was appointed with granite walls and artwork of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and portraits of all the prophets back through the centuries to Joseph Smith Jr., the Prophet of the Restoration.
Members of the Presidency and the High Council were beginning to arrive though the same apparent portal President Anderson entered. Each man greeted the President with a quizative nod and handshake, then greeted each other with quiet comments. They were anxious and wondered what this impromptu council meeting would reveal.
The Governor then entered the room dressed in a dark business suit, the same as everyone else.
“Brethren,” President Anderson addressed the sixteen men, “Let’s take our seats and begin.”
President Anderson sat at the head of the great table with his two counselors on each side of him. They were the colony or starship presidency. The twelve members of the High Council sat divided equally on both sides of the table. At the end, opposite to the Presidency sat the Governor.
President Anderson called on one of the High Council to offer an invocation to begin the meeting as usual. Then he addressed the group.
“The Governor has told me that there has been an unexpected and very serious event. We have called this meeting to inform all of us at once about what has happened.
“Governor, if you will.”
The Governor, the virtual image of artificial intelligence of the Zarahemla Colonial Starship, stood up and addressed the leaders of the colony.
“Brethren,” he began, “At 05.13.27 hours this morning, the Zarahemla was accelerating at one gee, all systems were nominal when navigational systems went down. We could not determine our position or relative trajectory.”
“Why not?” asked President Anderson.
The Governor continued almost without hesitation, “We lost the stars.”
“Which ones?”
“All of them.”
An 3D image appeared over the desk. The men in the room expected to see a field of stars but instead saw what looked like a single constellation behind the Zarahemla.
“These are not stars, brethren. These are galaxies. We have been thrown out of the Laniakea Supercluster. We have not determined our exact location yet, but are estimating that we are 200 to 300 million light years from our local group of galaxies.
“We are in a great void.”
One of the High Councilmen raised his hand and spoke, “How did this happen?
We didn’t feel anything?”
The Governor answered, “There was nothing to feel, no external forces on the colony, no shock waves or turbulence, and no acceleration. There was nothing to feel. Our first indication was the sudden change in the navigational star field, and the simultaneous loss of contact with Earth and the other colonies. We apparently slipped from our previous place in the universe to this place. The best space-time model is that of a spatial fold or a wormhole.”
“We have no contact with anyone else?” another councilman asked.
“That is correct. We have no contact with anyone else.”
“Were we the only ones to experience this separation?”
“Yes, there is no indication of anyone else coming here with us.”
“Can we return the way we came?”
“We are looking at that possibility, but we haven’t found any evidence of the anomaly now. We believe that our passage through the hole may have closed it behind us.”
There was a moment of silence that President Anderson eventually broke summarizing what was said.
“Two to three hundred million light years from home, then?” he almost whispered.
“Yes, sir.” affirmed the Governor, “We will be able to make a better determination once we have identified and measured our own Milky Way. We are looking now.
“I should also tell you that we are currently accelerating at one-gee away from the supercluster. We should change our course as soon as we can, with a minimum of gravitational disturbance as possible.”
President Anderson assumed that everyone was thinking the same thing at that moment. Changing direction meant turning off the engines, turning off the relativistic gravity, flipping the Zarahemla 180 degrees and turning on the engines again. But, they have been accelerating for five years and it would take another five years before they would reach zero velocity away from Earth. No, not Earth, he thought, the Milky Way.
“Governor,” he asked, “how long will it take to get back to our galaxy?”
“Over two billion years.”
That sank into the minds of everyone, and one of Anderson’s counselors voiced what was now obvious.
“We are never going home.”
“Thank you, Governor. Just for the record, is the ship OK?”
“All systems are functioning within acceptable parameters. The Zarahemla’s structure is integral and sound. All scheduled maintenance is being done on time. We are sound.”
“Good.”
The Governor took that as his cue to sit down. President Anderson looked at everyone and held out his hands.
“Comments, brethren.”
“What do we tell the members?”
“They will be wondering why they haven’t heard from the other colonies or Zion.”
“We have to tell them the truth…”
“And soon!”
“Well, the physics is relatively, sorry for the pun, simple, but the meaning of this is very dark and heavy.”
“Yes, we are essentially lost!”
“This is the outer darkness!”
“Now, let’s not have that characterization!” President Anderson admonished them.
“What do we tell them?”
A senior member of the High Council, recognized as the scriptorian of the group cleared his throat and said, “We tell them that this was the Hand of the Lord and that we are here for a purpose, and that even out here, we are still in His hands.”
“Thank you Brother Williams,” nodded President Anderson in agreement, “That is exactly what we needed to hear at this moment.”
“We will call a solemn assembly this afternoon at thirteen hours. Brethren, I will address the members and tell them what has happened and where we are now. I expect each of you to be prepared to testify that God still knows where we are and is very much mindful of us.
“Governor, let’s plan on reversing the ship two hours after the solemn assembly. That should give everyone enough time to secure themselves for zero-gravity.”
“We will do that, President.” answered the holographic image.
With that the meeting was closed with a very heartfelt benediction. Moments later an announcement went to every stake, ward, and individual member, inviting everyone to the Solemn Assembly in the Tabernacle.
Three days later at the regularly scheduled Council Meeting, reports were given on the status and welfare of the colony’s 1.5 million members. The Solemn Assembly shocked and then inspired the members, who participated in a special fast. Reports of inspiration and consolation were channeling up through the wards and stakes. The redirection of the colony spaceship was performed flawlessly, and the only injuries occurred as some youth and young adults trying to take advantage of the zero-gee with some flash mob dances and games. The ship’s engines restored gravity and life settled back into the usual routine. Almost.
“President,” Brother Jones, one of the junior members of the High Council raised his hand to be called on, “There is an issue that is beginning to emerge among the Saints.”
“Oh?” replied President Anderson.
“Yes sir.” Said Brother Jones with all eyes turned and focused on him, “Before we were thrown out here, we were on a colonization mission and were scheduled to arrive at our new home world in twenty-seven years. Now we can’t expect to be anywhere for billions of years. The members are wondering what their mission is now.”
“Oh.” everyone collectively leaned back in their chairs with a sigh. Then they began to think out loud together.
“With everyone converted, there’s no missionary work to be done.”
“There’s still ministering…”
“We’re not perfected yet.”
“But, attendance and other indicators are over 90%.”
“We are about to exhaust our genealogy records, we won’t have have any proxy work left to do in about three months. And we can’t get more names from Zion now...”
“So, what is our mission now?”
The fifteen men fell silent. They looked at each other and eventually all looked at President Anderson. He stirred a bit in his chair.
“Brethren,” he said earnestly, “Let’s take this to the Lord in prayer. Please, let us kneel together and as the Lord for guidance.”
The fifteen men pushed back their chairs and knelt in prayer together. President Anderson was the spokesman and prayed a sincere and humble prayer for the Council. Afterward, they all rose and took their seats again. President Anderson asked for any thoughts or impressions any of the Council may have.
Brother Williams said, “Throughout our history the saints have met adversity and challenges with faith, with growing faith.”
Another added, “That faith was exercised by hard work and perseverance.”
“Like the pioneers…”
“...but how do we do that here in the middle of a great void?”
Suddenly, as if a light suddenly shone on the whole group an inspired idea revealed itself.
President Anderson put the idea into words. “We will become pioneers! With the virtual environment we can have the Saints leave the comforts of their homes, travel by foot to a new, promised land and there build a new city of Zion! We will be Pioneers!”
A lively discussion erupted among the Brethren, and many logistical issues discussed and affirming testimonies expressed. President Anderson called for a sustaining vote, which was unanimous.
President Anderson thanked the Council and gave credit to the Lord for the inspiration.
“We’ll inform the Stake Presidents and the Bishops, and then announce the trek at our General Conference.
We are going on a Great Trek! We will be pioneers!”
